


We Three Ris of Ered Luin Are...

by Bofur1



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Eventual Happy Ending, Family Secrets, Gen, Guilty Conscience, Help, Thieving, Unexpected Visitors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-12
Updated: 2013-12-12
Packaged: 2018-01-04 11:00:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1080225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Bofur1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>...<em>not<em> thieves. Well...we aren't supposed to be. No matter how hard I try, I can't force my younger brother Nori to get his act together. He has a special way of stealing: goes all quiet and still and then quick as a flash the contents of your pockets are the contents of <em>his<em> pockets. At least he's the only one in the family who has that urge.</em></em></em></em></p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        <em>
          <em>(Think again, Dori.)</em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
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      <em>
        
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Three Ris of Ered Luin Are...

Ori had promised himself he wouldn’t do it again. He’d tried as hard as he could to forget his new skill, to hide it in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t control the sudden tingle in his fingers until it was too late.

It had started only half a week ago. Ori had been wandering in the market, enviously eyeing knitting needles that were prettily displayed in open velvet cases. He had no money to give for them; funds were tight lately so Ori had let Dori keep his allowance to help with bills.

Still, the needles were glinting temptingly in the sunlight...Ori’s fingers crept up the edge of the case and then Ori found himself walking with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. His right hand brushed a crumpled piece of paper and some salty bread, but his left hand was being jabbed by something sharp. When Ori withdrew the object, he was dumbfounded.

The needle had been his first theft and he hadn’t even planned it. Ori expected every knock at the door to be the merchant, come to wring his neck and take back his stolen item. Much to Ori’s surprise, the merchant never came. Thus, the youngest Ri was left knitting with two needles, one tarnished with use and one brand-new.

Other pilferages followed soon after. Everything Ori took was useful to him but small enough that it wouldn’t be missed. Ori himself was unobtrusive this way, which proved to be a great asset in what he believed was a rather enjoyable game. In fact, he found such pleasure in sneaking off with full pockets that he began filling his dresser drawer with purloined goods.

Guilt didn’t describe Ori’s feelings. He was thankful more than anything else. If Ori’s conscience hadn’t quieted long ago, he surely would have spilled his guts to Dori and gotten a severe scolding, perhaps even a spanking. Ori despised Dori’s spankings like nothing else; his older brother always looked so regretful about needing to do it that Ori burst into tears before anything had happened. He just wished (never thinking it could be his conscience getting his attention) that his unusual stomachaches would stop...

In this present moment, Ori heard the handle of his bedroom door turning and quickly shoved his dresser drawer closed as Dori entered.

“What are you working on?” Dori asked, coming over to peer over Ori’s shoulder at the drawing in his journal. His brows knit when he saw Ori’s depiction of a hand reaching into someone else’s pocket. “Who’s that?”

“I—I don’t know, I just drew it at random,” Ori answered hastily. Dori frowned a bit, but he couldn’t judge the lad; the art was actually quite accurate.

Wiping away his disapproval, Dori patted his youngest brother’s sorrel-brown head. “Keep working, lad. You’re improving nicely!”

Ori nodded, mumbling something under his breath. Dori turned to leave and then paused at the door.

“Oh, by the way, Ori, we’ll be having a visitor for dinner.”

Ori’s head jerked up and he turned to stare at Dori over his shoulder. “A visitor?” he echoed curiously. “Who is it?”

 

 

* * *

“Hey, there, little brother!” Nori exclaimed gleefully, throwing his arms out to open himself for embrace.

Squealing in sheer delight, Ori immediately dashed forward and tackled Nori’s waist. “When were you released?” he asked excitedly, staring up at the brother he’d not seen for months.

“Just last night,” Nori replied. Gently he pried Ori off of him for an inspection. Nori’s braided eyebrows rose in surprised pleasure. “Well, bless my beard, Ori! You’ve grown, wot, two and a half inches since last I saw you?!”

Ori beamed at Nori’s notice. “Two and a half exactly! Oh, I almost forgot: I have something for you!” Grabbing his brother’s tough, scarred hands, Ori pulled Nori toward the stairs that led to the bedrooms.

Nori leaned against the doorframe of Ori’s room, waiting patiently. He watched Ori flip through the pages of his journal and realized that the gift, as he’d suspected, was a piece of art. Nori felt contented warmth melt the stark pain of his five-month imprisonment. Ori didn’t know about his home away from home, a secret cave along the road in which he stored supplies, weapons, and Ori’s drawings. Every time he went on a roam he would stop there and shuffle through the sheaf of papers, watching Ori’s art years pass before his eyes. The first few were wobbly scribbles, stick-figures with huge eyes that popped from tiny heads and barely legible words naming them—

“Here you go!” Ori announced, pressing a folded piece of paper into Nori’s fingers. Nori’s lips curved up as he read the careful inscription on the outside:

_For my dear brother, Nori_

_With love from Ori_

_Welcome home!_

Trying to blink away the nostalgia glistening in the corners of his eyes, Nori unfolded the paper and burst out laughing.

“Is this supposed to be me?” he asked wryly, gesturing to the hand reaching in the pocket.

Ori gave him a shy smile. “Um, yeah...”

“Well, lad, ’tis perfect as the Seven-Star Crown on Durin’s head,” Nori proclaimed proudly.

Ori’s face lit up with that brilliant smile Nori loved so much. He wanted to keep it there, so he reached for the satchel on his hip. “One thing will make your future drawings better,” he declared, raising his eyebrows mysteriously as he fished inside. “These!” With a flourish, Nori withdrew a brand-new, carefully polished set of quills.

Ori stared at them. “Thank you,” he said, sounding a bit surprised and doubtful.

Nori’s heart sank; he found his brother’s reaction rather anticlimactic. Ori took them anyway and carefully fondled the feathers. “Thank you,” he repeated, turning to put the quills on his dresser.

The middle Ri’s heart fell further. “I sense a ‘but’ coming,” he remarked, hoping his tone didn’t reveal his disappointed hurt at Ori’s lack of enthusiasm.

“Well...” Ori started uncomfortably. “It’s just...I already have new quills.”

“You do?” Nori was bristling slightly. Who had stolen his idea? “Did Dori think of that?”

Shaking his head, Ori hoisted himself onto his bed and turned to face Nori. “No, I got them for myself,” he announced calmly.

Nori’s heartbeat abruptly quickened when he noticed the gleam in Ori’s eyes and the color in his cheeks. And his body language was familiar...Nori realized that he’d seen it many times, but always in a different source—always in himself. When he looked in the mirror every morning, his eyes shone with the future and his face flushed with anticipation. Ori held that same look, Nori perceived. But would could possibly—

Ori was stealing.

The realization was so stunning that Nori gasped aloud, staggering as his legs suddenly weakened. The spark in Ori’s eyes was overpowered by one of concern as he leapt to his feet.

“Nori, is something wrong? Are you alright?!”

Lies slipped off Nori’s tongue far more easily than truths. “Suddenly realized I’ve been using a bucket loo for five months. Gotta change that right quick!” So saying, Nori whirled and rushed to the restroom, slamming the door and locking it. Breathing hard, he sank down to the floor and buried his head in his hands.

The nightmare, Nori thought deliriously. The nightmare that had plagued his dreams all through prison was coming true. Little Ori was becoming just like him—a corrupt desperado who tortured innocents for the fun of it!

“It’s all my fault,” Nori moaned. He knew his baby brother would never do well in prison. Nori needed someone to convince Ori to change his path.

Desperately Nori began running through a mental list of all his friends. Most were thieves themselves, which narrowed the list down significantly. It couldn’t be Glóin—he would bark at Ori and scare the living daylights out of him; that was something Nori didn’t want. No, not Bofur either—he and Ori would probably got off topic and Bofur would forget the reason he was actually there.

It had to be someone both he and Ori called by name, someone with strong presence who could be both intimidating and gentle, someone with a strong sense of lawful justice and would not hesitate to teach it to others.

There was one person Nori knew with all those traits, but Nori found himself flinching at the thought of going to _him_.

Dori looked up as Nori padded down the stairs. “Where’re you off to, Nori? I was just setting dinner on the—”

“I’m going back to prison,” Nori mumbled.

Dori’s jaw dropped. “ _What?!_ ”

 

 

* * *

“What’d you do this time?” Dwalin asked flatly as everyone’s favorite pickpocket entered the room with two guards.

“Nothin’,” Nori snapped testily. “I came here to _report_ an act of thievery, but your goons grabbed me as soon as I took off my hood!”

Dwalin blinked. “You, reporting one of your ‘brothers’, as you call the crooks of this town? I doubt that.”

“It’s true!” Nori barked, shaking off the guards’ grip. “And...And it’s not just any brother. It’s a real one.”

Dwalin was confused and rather startled. There in Nori’s face he saw something he’d never before: honesty. Nori was telling the truth and he seemed rather upset about it...

Before he could stop himself, Dwalin waved at the guards. “Leave,” he ordered.

One of them started to protest. “But, Sir, he might—”

“If you think there’s something he might do that I couldn’t return twice over, tell me after your demotion,” Dwalin growled. At that, the guards scurried away, closing the door behind them.

Nori let out a huge breath and stumbled toward the chair before Dwalin’s desk. “I never thought I’d see the day when I came to you for help,” he muttered sulkily. “But here it is.”

Dwalin leaned forward, folding his hands expectantly. Nori gulped uneasily.

“It’s...the one who I want to report...it’s Ori.”

Dwalin’s eyebrows shot toward his hairline. “Your little brother?!”

Nori nodded vigorously, a stream of words pouring from his lips all at once. “He’sbeenstealin’fromtheMenfolkintownandIhadnoideaaboutitbutIfoundouttodayandIknewIhadtocometoyou. PleaseDwalinyouhavetoconvincehimtogiveitallback!”

Dwalin leapt to his feet, waving his arms wildly about. “Wait, wait, wait! Nori, slow down. Say all that again.”

“Sure you aren’t getting old, going deaf?” Nori sulked. He took a deep breath. “Ori’s been stealin’ from the Menfolk in town and I had no idea about it but I found out today and I knew I had to come to you. I won’t say ‘please’ for you ever again, but Dwalin, you have to convince him to give it all back.”

“I never thought I’d see the day, either,” Dwalin remarked and bit his tongue when he noticed the truly distraught expression on Nori’s face. “Alright, alright,” he said before what he suspected would be a stream of begging and maybe even some tears. “I’ll see what I can do for him.”

Nori breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Ach, Dwalin, you’re a lifesaver. Truly.” He sobered for a moment, pursing his lips. “I—I don’t want Ori son of Fori to be a regular in your role call.”

For once, Nori and Dwalin could agree on something.

 

 

* * *

“Dwalin! This is a surprise!” Dori exclaimed as he recognized the Dwarf standing outside.

“Good evening, Dori,” Dwalin said curtly. “I’m here to see Ori.”

Dori’s expression morphed from polite puzzlement to nervous apprehension. “Why? H-Has he done something wrong?”

“No, it’s about his studies as a scribe.” It was also about how they might end if he kept nimming from the merchants, but Dwalin kept that part to himself.

“Oh, Balin must have sent you,” Dori decided. Dwalin grunted, willing to let Dori believe that assumption.

Ori jumped to his feet as his bedroom door opened. His cry of “Nori!” died away when he saw the massive Dwarf filling the doorway. “Oh. Hello, Mr. Dwalin,” Ori sighed disappointedly, sinking back down onto his chair.

“Hello, Ori,” Dwalin returned. “You’re looking for Nori to arrive?”

Ori nodded anxiously. “He went to the restroom and then never came back!”

“Well, he went out for a stroll,” Dwalin explained. Ori cocked his head.

“How do you know?”

“I passed him and said hello.” Dwalin gave Dori a significant look and nudged the door closed so he and Ori could be alone.

When Nori returned home later that evening, the flush was gone from Ori’s cheeks and his eyes had returned to normal. Dwalin was drinking tea and chatting comfortably with Nori’s brothers in the kitchen. Nori’s eyes darted nervously back and forth among the three as he shuffled into the kitchen toward them.

Astonishingly it was Dori who reacted first, leaping to his feet and seizing Nori by the arms. “Where have you been? Don’t you ever do that again! What am I supposed to think when you say ‘I’m going back to prison’ and just walk out as calm as a summer breeze?! What, are you suddenly fixated with the place? What is it about home that makes you want to leave again?”

Nori shook his head. “I never _want_ to leave. I just...have to.” Leaving Dori to puzzle over this riddle, Nori leaned over to look at Dwalin. “So. Everything alright?”

Nodding, Dwalin stood. “Let’s go outside, you and me. Have things to talk about.”

“Will he be alright?” Nori pressed as soon as the front door closed behind them. “You didn’t scar his psyche too harshly?”

“What makes you think I scarred it at all?”

“Wot, you didn’t scare it out of him?” Nori was puzzled.

“Nope. I’ll see you around, burglar.” Dwalin made to leave.

“Well, then, what did you say to him?!” Nori shouted after him.

Dwalin halted. When he glanced over his shoulder, Nori could see the hint of a smile curving Dwalin’s lips.

“‘Nice quills’.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> "Nice quills."
> 
> And then Ori spilled everything to Dwalin, because Ori's nice that way and Dwalin's a boss. ^v^


End file.
